228 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc, 



be regarded fortunate to secure the services of a man with the 

 natural ability, the scientific attainments, the special training 

 and the enthusiasm in the work that Mr. Kirkland possesses. 

 At the meeting of the American Association of Economic 

 Entomologists, held in Springfield, Mass., Aug. 28, 1895,. 

 I gave an address on the gypsy moth and what the Common- 

 wealth of Massachusetts had done towards its extermination ; 

 and in the discussion that followed, participated in by Messrs. 

 Riley, Lintner, Smith, Forbush and Kirkland, Professor Riley 

 closed his remarks as follows : " If I were asked to express 

 an opinion, I should not know what to advise further than 

 what the committee is doing. I think it is doing all that can 

 be done." At the close of the discussion, Prof. L. O. Howard, 

 entomologist to the United States Department of Agriculture, 

 proposed the following resolution, which was unanimously 

 passed : — 



Resolved, That it is the sense of this association that the present 

 gypsy moth committee is performing its work in a most intelligent 

 and praiseworthy manner, and that its hands should be upheld by 

 the State authorities. 



Several entomologists from other States have visited Maiden 

 during the season for the purpose of inspecting the work of 

 destroying the gypsy moth, and have expressed themselves as 

 being greatly pleased with the field work and also the experi- 

 mental work at the insectary. I have been asked frequently 

 during the past season whether we shall be able to exterminate 

 the gypsy moth, and have been obliged to reply that it de- 

 pends entirely upon whether the Legislature makes sufficient 

 appropriations; and with that body lies the entire responsi- 

 bility. The cutting down of the appropriations the past three 

 years and the late time at which these appropriations were 

 made has proved almost disastrous to the work ; and if future 

 Legislatures continue this policy, the insect will neither be 

 exterminated nor will it be held in check, but it will escape 

 and spread over the entire Commonwealth and country. 



There are those who claim that the State should not appro- 

 priate money for the extermination of this insect, but that it 

 should be left to land owners to protect their owji property 

 from the ravages of the gypsy moth. This would prove to be 



